Tyre Pyrolysis Framework

The UK Environment Agency has published a resource framework clarifying when tyre pyrolysis oil produced from waste tyres can meet the end-of-waste test and move outside waste management controls in England.

For tire pyrolysis operators, refiners and traders, the framework delivers a clearer regulatory route for tyre-derived oil used as refinery feedstock. It defines the approved inputs, product specifications, evidence requirements and storage rules that determine whether tyre pyrolysis oil — often shortened to TPO — is treated as a product rather than a waste.

Approved Inputs and Refinery Use

The framework applies only to tyre pyrolysis oil produced from approved tyre-derived waste: end-of-life tyres under waste code 16 01 03, and shredded tyres or tyre crumb under waste code 19 12 04. To qualify, TPO must be produced exclusively from these materials and then sent to a refinery for use as feedstock in making marketable products, with the receiving refinery holding the appropriate environmental permits.

Storage without an identified end user keeps the material classified as waste. The Environment Agency is explicit that intermediate storage, whether on site or elsewhere, remains subject to waste controls — non-waste status depends on both production quality and a permitted route to final use.

Specification, Evidence and Traceability

Producers must agree a final specification with the receiving refinery that at minimum meets Environment Agency limits for kinematic viscosity, sulphur content, total acid number, total halogens and a range of metals including aluminium, lead, mercury and zinc. Representative analysis must be carried out before dispatch from the tire pyrolysis plant to prove compliance.

Record-keeping is central to the framework. Producers must document incoming waste — including waste code, weight, source, supplier and reasons for rejecting material — and provide customer supply documentation confirming the outgoing TPO meets the framework’s minimum specification. The framework does not displace other legislation such as UK REACH.

Imports, Mixing and Future Review

Import and export status must be checked separately, because other countries may still treat the material as waste. Imported TPO requires testing documentation, and mixing rules turn on the material combined with it: mixing compliant TPO with other waste oils makes the whole volume waste, while mixing with non-waste material such as crude oil does not.

The Environment Agency has scheduled a review of the framework for April 2029, and it may be updated or withdrawn sooner in response to pollution incidents, market developments or changes in scientific or legislative understanding.

For waste-to-value developers, the framework reduces uncertainty around producing pyrolysis oil as a compliant refinery feedstock — the same output stream Klean’s tire pyrolysis technology is engineered to deliver alongside recovered carbon black.

Learn More:

• What is tyre pyrolysis?
• What is recovered carbon black?
• Pyrolysis oil projects
• Feasibility studies
• Tire pyrolysis plants

Plan Your Tyre Pyrolysis Project With Confidence

Clearer end-of-waste rules in England make tyre pyrolysis oil a more bankable refinery feedstock. Klean Industries helps operators align plant design, output specification and regulatory compliance from the first feasibility study onward.

Ready to turn waste tyres into compliant tyre pyrolysis oil and recovered carbon black?

Contact Klean Industries about tyre pyrolysis and pyrolysis oil » GO.